NEW YORK — Wall Street retreated Thursday, falling amid vanishing hopes for an interest rate cut and an unimpressive forecast from Apple Inc. that muted investors’ enthusiasm for technology stocks.

Government data released Thursday indicated slowly rising prices for consumers, as well as a surprising plunge in jobless claims to an 11-month low and a ramp-up in housing construction. The reports pointed to an economy that’s more resilient than the market had thought, leading more investors to lower their expectations for a rate cut. A cut could boost consumer spending by making debt less cumbersome and help companies pull in higher profits.

The technology-laden Nasdaq composite index declined 36.21, or 1.46 percent, to 2,443.21 — its biggest one-day drop since Nov. 27, when it fell by 2.21 percent. The Nasdaq is still up more than 1 percent on the year, however.

Bonds fell slightly, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note at 4.77 percent, down from 4.78 percent late Wednesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices edged lower.

Crude sank $1.76 to settle at $50.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It briefly fell below $50 to its lowest price in 20 months after the U.S. Department of Energy reported that the nation’s crude oil and gasoline inventories grew.

Plummeting energy prices are expected to be generally supportive to stocks, as lower fuel costs leave consumers with more money to spend. However, they are taking a toll on some energy-related stocks: Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 50 cents to $71.96, while ConocoPhillips fell 94 cents to $62.61.

The drop in oil also takes away some of the feel of a boom time from financial markets — when crude peaked at $78 last summer, it helped draw new investment money. Now, the fear on Wall Street is that the pullback will have the opposite effect, sending some investors to the sidelines.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony to the Senate Budget Committee, in which he warned that long-term problems could arise if the national debt, Social Security and Medicare issues aren’t dealt with, provided little direction for the markets, which instead focused on Thursday’s economic reports.

The Labor Department said the Consumer Price Index rose by 0.5 percent in December, and jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 290,000 last week. The Commerce Department said construction of new homes rose by 4.5 percent last month.

So far, most signs point to an economy that will keep slowly expanding — neither requiring a rate cut, nor eating away at corporate profits. This should help the stock market in the long term, but many investors are treading cautiously, realizing after the market’s sharp climb late last year, some of their expectations might have been overblown.

“The economy is not slowing down as much as market had hoped. The bottom line is, equity holders need to be a little more patient than they otherwise thought,” said John C. Forelli, portfolio manager for Independence Investment LLC in Boston.

Banks and brokerages have been performing well generally, on a surge in fund investment over the past year. The Bank of New York Co., one of the nation’s largest trust banks, also beat analyst forecasts Thursday with its fourth-quarter financials. Its stock rose 69 cents to $40.94.

Meanwhile, technology stocks dropped after Apple’s forecast for this quarter, while came a day after chip maker Intel Corp.’s margin estimates for 2007 were lower than Wall Street estimates.

Apple fell $5.88, or 6.2 percent, to $89.07.

After the market closed Thursday, IBM Corp. said profit in the latest quarter rose 11 percent, beating Street estimates, and reported a huge increase in services contract signings — which could mean high revenue going forward. Investors were not impressed, however, and sent shares of IBM down $4.25, or more than 4 percent, in after-market trading. IBM shares had fallen 57 cents to close at $99.45 Thursday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was down 10.56, or 1.34 percent, at 778.21.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 5 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 2.89 billion shares, up from 2.72 billion shares at the same point Wednesday.

Violent police encounters in California last year led to the deaths of 157 people and six officers, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday in a report that provides the first statewide tally on police use-of-force incidents.

At 6:03 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to reports of the robbery at the facility, 2301 Bancroft way, and learned that a man who snuck into the facility and began prowling through the building, taking cell phones and wallets from victims.

Investigators’ efforts to solve the case led to the arrests of Pablo Mendoza, 25, of Hayward, Brandon Follings, 26, of Oakland and Valeria Boden, 26, of Alameda, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.